Month: May 2013

Some have suggested that Woolwich is a reason to resurrect the Communications Data Bill – the Snoopers’ Charter. Indeed, not only have the usual authoritarian suspects on all sides of the political field – Theresa May for the Tories, Lord Reid for Labour and Lord Carlile for the Lib Dems – spoken in favour of the resurrection of the Snooper’s Charter, but the latest suggestion is that Ed Miliband would be willing to help the Tories bring in the bill, even in the face of the planned opposition by the Liberal Democrats.

That, to me, is not only worrying but very foolish. The tragic and hideous events of Woolwich do not make the case for the Snoopers’ Charter. Indeed, precisely the opposite: they make a stronger case against the Snoopers’ Charter. They support the position taken by opponents of the Snooper’s Charter. What we need isn’t the clumsy bludgeon of…

(satire?)

The government has announced plans to hand over the running of the whole of England and Wales to private security firm G4S in a move which ministers say will bring significant improvements to their workload and personal bank balances.

The international company – which has already been contracted to run everything from rape referral centres to children’s homes in the UK – will take over the entire management of the two countries from government ministers on a contract which is expected to run for 30 years.

The company announced that trained G4S workers working on an hourly rate of £6.50 an hour will help man the two countries, assisting with making decisions about foreign policy, running the countries’ health and education services as well as providing advice on how members of the public can access optional services such as provision of water, gas, electricity and air for an…

Reminder! We are showing Ken Loach’s new film at the University on Wednesday 29th May (ignore the typo on the poster).  7pm in the Arts Main Lecture Theatre. R14 on Campus maps.

Ralph Vaughan Williams

In 1945 Katharine Thomson wrote to Ralph Vaughan Williams, a Cambridge friend of her father, and asked him if Clarion could perform excerpts from his opera ‘Sir John in Love’. She mentioned in particular one member of Clarion, a baritone called Martin Marshall. Vaughan Williams replied, saying “I would like to meet your baritone”.

In August, Katharine, Martin and his wife Elsie went to Vaughan Williams’ house in Dorking where he gave them a warm welcome. In the composer’s study, accompanied by him on the piano, Martin sang Vaughan Williams’ beautiful song ‘Silent Noon’.

‘Sir John in Love’ was first performed by Clarion in its entirety in March 1949 at the Birmingham and Midland Institute. The director was Tom Harrison, Regional Director of the Midlands Arts Council. The opera was conducted by Professor Anthony Lewis from the University of Birmingham.

from The Birmingham Post 19th March…

(satire?)

The announcement that the murder of a young British soldier in Woolwich was the work of men police believe were British-born Londoners sparked fears of a backlash against cockneys and eastenders yesterday.

As the direction of the  investigation became clear, a parallel operation was launched by police chiefs to brief community leaders in the capital and prepare for reprisal attacks on anyone expressing a liking for jellied eels or looking like they were born within the sound of Bow bells.

Police say that since Wednesday’s horrific events, police have recorded 30 hate crime incidents against the cockney and mockney community, including an attack on a man wearing an I ♥ London T-shirt and criminal damage to a pie and mash shop.

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Well it’s just as ridiculous as blaming all Muslims for the tragic events in Woolwich, isn’t it?

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Please feel free to comment – you don’t…

Our next meeting is on Saturday 1st June, location TBC. Facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/events/153909298122508

Our first meeting, held on 11th May, was a great success. It was well attended by members of Birmingham Fems, Women’s Networking Hub, Birmingham DPAC, Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts, University of Birmingham Women’s Association – alongside a number of independent women. Come along to our second meeting where we’ll be discussing our campaign against the closure of numerous NHS walk-in centres around Birmingham – including the demonstration called on the 29th June.

We have a demonstration called for Saturday 29th June, 12pm at South Birmingham GP Walk-in Centre, against the closure of 7 NHS walk-in centres around Birmingham. Facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/events/144723329047409

We want this protest to be family friendly! Weather permitting we will hold a picnic at Selly Oak Park following the demonstration – a short 8 minute walk away. Bring your kids…

(satire)

Outspoken former Conservative chairman Lord Tebbit has joined a growing chorus urging action to save the world’s endangered bee populations under threat from gay marriage saying it would pave the way for queens to become lesbians thereby endangering future colonies.

In an interview for the Big Issue, Lord Tebbit also claimed that legislation legalising gay marriage would pave the way for higher honey prices as bees spent less time and energy on making honey from nectar in order to concentrate more on making honey with each other.

Tebbit said that Downing Street had tried to push the legislation too quickly and had not properly considered what the full ramifications of allowing gay marriage might be for the future of English breakfasts:

I said to a minister: have you thought this through? Because you’re affecting the future of toast eating, too.

It’s time more decent people stood up against this insidious…

Dark matter, WIMPS, and NASA’s Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer data.

In which gizmag splashes some cold realism upon recent speculation…

I never realized how great times were when I was in school until after I graduated, had to pay bills and lived on my own.  Kids, if you’re reading this don’t be in a hurry to grow up it’s overrated as Hell!  You go through twelve years of school (well most of us), with the goal of preparing us for the ‘real world’ when we graduate, but is that really the case?  I can think of a few classes they need to add to really get us ready for LIFE:

It was announced yesterday that MPs could receive a 30% pay rise, seeing their wages rise £20,000 a year to £86,000.  Meanwhile, the average wage earner in the UK has seen their wages drop 20% in real terms since 2008. The government is certainly Making Work Pay…just not for 99% of the population.

The Wage Drop of the 99%

 

Increased access to personal debt (credit cards, loans, store cards, buy now pay later, hire purchase etc.) has been masking the expanding gulf between cost of living and wage inflation for decades.

In the ten years between 1999 and 2009, the annual salary rose 13.6%.  During the same period, house prices went up 130%, a loaf of bread went up 147%, and a litre of petrol went up 42%.  This goes some way to accounting for the fact that personal debt rose during this period…